I want to thank God Almighty for the gospel, for it is the power of God to save us from sin and to heal the sick. God saved me in 2004 in a miraculous way and has been keeping me since. taking me through the highs and lows of life. One of my favourite scriptures in the bible is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). I do not only read of the miracles of Jesus in the Bible but we are blessed to experience those miracles in our life.

I work in a hospital as a sonographer and in April 2019, after having an ultrasound scan of my shoulder by a work colleague and proceeding to check other organs of the body as we had some time on our hands to spare, he noticed something in my neck that he was concerned about. He advised me to have a radiologist investigate it. I was not ill nor unwell at all, and I was going about my life without a care in the world and never thinking there was anything seriously worrying regarding my health. However, I had further investigations and a biopsy of my thyroid gland, and I was told that I had Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The doctor I saw was very reassuring and he told me that out of all cancers, this is very easily curable. This would require surgery to remove the thyroid gland and radioactive iodine dosage to destroy the cancerous cells. The doctor reassured me that my life expectancy would not change as this was a very curable cancer. My family and I were thankful to God after hearing this news. The doctor told me that the biopsy cells would need confirmation by another senior pathologist to confirm the initial diagnosis. 

A week later the same doctor called me to come in as a matter of urgency. When I saw him he looked very worried, he told me that the biopsy sample went to be assessed by a senior doctor and the diagnosis had changed, it was a different type of cancer of the thyroid called Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) which is more difficult to treat when it has spread and has no cure as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are not suitable for this cancer. I had more tests which showed the cancer had metastasized to the neck and chest area. The new diagnosis meant I had to have extensive surgery to the neck to remove the spread of the disease and I would need to have a chest sternotomy to remove the spread to the chest area. This MTC diagnosis really knocked me back.  

I had just turned 40, had a child barely a year old, and had great plans ahead of me but suddenly, I was now just counting a day at a time not really looking further ahead. I kept asking God to please let me live to see my child start nursery and to hear him call me “daddy”.  Though I have had challenges in the past, this was a huge mountain and nothing that I have faced before compared to this. I prayed, my family prayed with me, and my pastor and ministers prayed along with me.

I remember praying at the altar one day and God gave me the assurance that this disease has reached its limit and will go no further. God even gave me an example of the sea to say that the water in the ocean knows its bounds and when it reaches land it will recede and that it is God who has made that decree and the same would apply to my case. I was very thankful to God. 

However, like the Apostle Peter in the bible when Jesus had bid him to walk on the sea, when he saw the huge wave, instead of looking at Jesus, he focused on the wave and he began to sink so was my case. After the Holy Spirit had given me an assurance that all would be well, I went ahead with surgery thinking that was my only hope. I went in for an arduous 16-hour operation and at the end, the doctor told me that he was not able to remove all cancer cells as it had wrapped around some delicate organs and structures in my chest, and trying to remove it would be more of a danger and would affect my immediate quality of life. In fact, I was told that there was more of the cancer left inside my chest than what they managed to remove. In addition, my voice was gone as my vocal cords were damaged during the surgery, and I would need surgery to correct the damage and restore my voice. During the workup, I was informed that it looked like I may also have colon cancer and breast cancer and needed more investigations. 

I was overwhelmed and asked God how many cancers one person can have in a lifetime. I am grateful to God that God undertook and all the investigations came to naught for the colon and breast cancer. It is only God’s grace that sustained me and my family through this difficult trying time. 

I informed the ministry of my condition and they prayed with me and advised that the doctors have done their bit and we should leave the rest to God. And it is true that when man has reached his limits, that is when God starts. I am grateful to God that in a miraculous way my voice returned on its own accord without having to go back to the operating theatre. I am also grateful to God in that it’s been four years since my diagnosis and the cancer is stable. The cancer has not spread from the time God had promised me that this condition would not spread further. If only I had obeyed His Word and promise, I would not have proceeded with a surgery that was so extensive and extremely painful. Through my life experience, I have since concluded that when God promises something it will come to pass. Sometimes it may not come in the way we expect it, but God will bring it to pass. 

The Bible says in (Isaiah 55:8-9) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. 

I have concluded that God answers prayer in a way He sees fit. Sometimes in a miraculous way, God can remove cancer or any illness from the body or He can use surgery/medicinal purposes. Or even as in my case, God can leave cancer in the body and neutralize it so that it doesn’t cause any pain or further spread. In some other cases, though we pray, God may decide to call us home through the illness. My duty is to just surrender and say ‘’Your will be done Lord, not mine.’’

I am grateful to God for sparing my life to see my child start and finish nursery and now he is going into his second year of primary school which is something I had not envisaged some years back on receiving the news about MTC cancer. I am in good health and the only reminder of my cancer is the surgery to the neck, sometimes I even think to myself were these doctors telling me the truth that I had cancer as I have seen some people and family members given cancer diagnosis after me and they have gone to eternity and here I am strong and healthy. It is only through the mercy and grace of God that I am alive today and I give Him all the glory, honour, adoration, and praise. May this great God keep me to the end to see Him in glory.